


train to nowhere

by zenelly



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Western, M/M, Multi, is this a lowkey red dead redemption 2 au? yes, they're all cowboys, this is messy and i'm not sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29407158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenelly/pseuds/zenelly
Summary: robbing a train is just supposed to get them more money to get further out west, not a new companion, but at this point Chrollo will take just about anything he can get his hands on.
Relationships: Kurapika/Leorio Paladiknight/Chrollo Lucilfer
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7
Collections: CLK Week '21





	train to nowhere

**Author's Note:**

> for clk week! day one. please be nice to me despite the fact that i am So Late. the power has been out for nearly two days straight now. anyways i would love to yell constantly about leorio and chrollo being narrative foils for each other and how they revolve around kurapika
> 
> (this does not change the fact that chrollo ends up dead 9 times out of 10 in my fics and it happens for a reason)

Kurapika has a cough that won’t go away.

“No, get going,” he tells Chrollo, and admirably, his gun does not waver where he has it pointed at the train conductor, despite the wet cough wracking his frame. “The sooner we get out of here, the better.”

While true, Chrollo fixates on the cough like a dog worrying at a bone for the last scrap of meat, even as he steals a kiss from Kurapika and heads into the passenger cars, guns drawn.

He doesn’t get past the first car, bag getting heavier and heavier with the spoils he’s taking from people, before someone gives him lip.

“Oh sunovabitch, can you put that damn thing down already?”

Not the reaction Chrollo expects most people to have when there’s a gun in their face.

“No one here tonight was _looking_ to get robbed, I imagine,” Chrollo says dryly, but the stranger is waving him off already.

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about that. It’s just that I’m off-duty right now, and I don’t particularly care to treat gunshot wounds on a moving train.” He gestures at the bag by his feet, and Chrollo sees several things in rapid succession. First, the name “Dr. Leorio Paladiknight” painstakingly stitched into the fabric. Second, the man is broad and handsome, legs as long as the day, strong, capable hands. Third, the outline of a knife, two knives, tucked against his forearm and thigh.

Chrollo has always appreciated a man who knows his way around knives.

He blinks. Considers. “You know what would make this go by much faster and with fewer casualties,” he says finally. “You work with me. My partner and I are headed west. That’s our only goal. I don’t aim to hurt anyone here unnecessarily, but I can’t guarantee everyone’s safety without a little backup. You’re a doctor.”

Leorio gives him a steady, unimpressed look. “I am.”

“Do you know much about treating coughs?” Chrollo can’t quite hide the razor’s edge of desperation in his voice, the one that burns too much like sun and cheap alcohol and the sand in his eyes after insufficient rest. There have been too many nights where Chrollo’s only company has been liquor and the wet rasp of Kurapika’s breathing. He can never tell if he hates the sound or its absence more.

Something in his countenance has Leorio softening, and the doctor lets out a sigh. “Give me a cut of the money and I’ll see to whatever cough you’re talking about. Can’t promise much, but I know my way around a body.”

Relief floods Chrollo. He finally lowers his gun, a smirk curving his mouth. “You could know your way around mine, Doctor.”

Leorio’s eyes drag down Chrollo’s frame and he unfolds himself from the seat, forcing Chrollo to tip his head back to maintain eye contact. The inspection is thorough and deliberate and sends a pleasant twist of heat through Chrollo’s stomach as studious green eyes meet his again. Then Leorio smiles. “I could. Let’s rob this train, shall we?”

(“Who is this,” Kurapika doesn’t ask when they come back, bags full and rattling with coin and jewelry. There are no flecks of blood at the corners of his mouth, but he coughs at the end of his sentence, harsh. Leorio’s eyes immediately focus in on it, and he frowns.

“I see why you’re going west now. Warmer and drier, hm?”

“It was the only advice we could get the town’s doctor to give us,” Chrollo says mildly as he drops a kiss to Kurapika’s forehead. “Sweetheart, this is Leorio, a good doctor who will be accompanying us from now on.”

Kurapika’s eyes scan Leorio, lingering around the impressive breadth of his shoulders, the handsome jut of his jaw. Then he snorts. “As long as he isn’t dead weight.”

“I’m here to make sure you _won’t_ be dead weight,” Leorio snipes back immediately, and Chrollo’s grin only grows. “Get some manners, shortstack, I’m sure there’s room in there for some.”

Kurapika stares at him incredulously. Then turns to Chrollo. “I’m going to kill him.”

Chrollo sighs, taking the gun from Kurapika and moving to direct the train faster down the tracks. “Now, now, darling, I know you’re having fun with your new friend, and I’m glad to see you getting along, I really am! But we have to get out of here before the sheriff finds us, so please, call up your horse and give him a ride. We need him.”

“We’re not getting along,” the two say in unison, and Chrollo smiles into the night, air whipped into a frenzy, smelling of metal and heat and the vast, endless stretch of possibility.)


End file.
